ECB's Asmussen: Settle Greece financing next week

The euro zone must settle Greece's financing next week for the next two years, and the country will likely need a follow-up economic adjustment program for the years after 2014, an executive board member of the European Central Bank said on German television on Sunday.

"We should settle the financing for 2013 and 2014 next week," Joerg Asmussen, ECB Executive Board member, said in an interview on ZDF's Berlin Direkt, a German television program.

The central banker expressed doubt, however, that the country would be able to regain market access in the years following.

"To be honest, we don't expect that the country will have access to the markets in 2015 and 2016," Mr. Asmussen told the program. "That means a follow-up program would be necessary," he added.

Greece's official lenders--the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund--have debated publicly over how to pare the country's growing debt pile.

Greece has passed a new round of spending cuts, but its deeper-than-expected recession means that without relief the country will need European financing for two more years than planned.

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